The Fifth Mistake
by Future Shining Star
Summary: All it took was five mistakes, five mistakes and my life would never be the same.


The Fifth Mistake

A person's way of life can change completely with just one horrible mistake, and everyone will eventually make this mistake. The only thing is some people call it a blessing, some people call it fate, and others handle it differently than I did. All it took was four mistakes and my life was ruined, destroyed; everything I loved or worked hard for was gone. My mistakes took a lot from me, my parents, my grades, my friends, my scholarship, and most importantly, a person's life. Looking back it was inevitable that the entire situation would turn out this way, me, in essence, the town's worse regret, a person dead, and me still trying to piece my life back together again. I am still suffering my sentence, but I will not turn into a misanthrope due to all the evil feelings I am exposed to; it's not what she would have wanted. While I still hate the man I hold partially responsible for the ruining of my life, as I age it lessees. Age gives us the ability to see things more clearly; I now understand that my actions also led up to the final events that scarred my life. There may have been three characters in my demise, but I was the main when it came to my deepest regret. It all started when I got a C on a quiz and met him; from then on my life went downhill.

Walking over to the grave of a dear friend and sister who left us too soon I placed a few flowers and remembered how this all happened. It still brings tears to my eyes when I remembered what happened, she died due to my mistakes. I remember when I first felt a sudden compulsion to befriend a resident loner and bad-boy named Tucker Mulligan. I believe this was around the time I got a C on a quiz in honors calculus because I was out with a few friends instead of studying. My parents lectured my for hours on how I should be ashamed of myself and how I embarrassed them by not being smart enough. They believed that because my dad was a doctor, my mom a neurologist, and my sister being the perfect daughter she is that I should be the perfect and smart son. I argued back that I always get perfect grades and how I just needed to close the books for a while. The stress had been killing me lately and I felt that I had earned a break. When my parents yelled again on how they wished I was more like my sister I snapped, grabbing my coat of the rack by the door I just walked out. I never turned back even though I heard them screaming at me not to walk away from them. This was mistake number one.

In my rush to get away from my parents I didn't think about what I was going to do next. Walking around blindly I ended up at a local park that I used to play in when I was much younger. I saw a young family walking home; after all it was only five o'clock. I heard the little boy's mother tell him she would be proud of him no matter what, then the father agreed. The young lad looked up in wonder and started to cry, apologizing over and over for getting an F on some test. His parents quickly responded saying they had put too much pressure on him and that they were pushing him too far. By this time they went out of earshot I strained to hear more and only got a few words, "We will always be proud of you and we will try harder to understand that you need a break every now and then." With those words my anger bubbled up to the surface and I beating at a small tree without mercy, my assault consisted of rocks that came in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. Then I heard a voice "Wow man, take a chill pill. What did that tree ever do to you?" Turning toward the shadows I saw a boy around my age step out. He had brown shaggy hair, piercings, and baggy clothes. "What do you want?" I asked him in an annoyed tone, his presence just spelled trouble. "I'm Tucker Mulligan, and once again, what did that tree ever do to you?" After avoiding answering the question and him asking it over and over again I lost it and punched him straight in the face. He didn't even look fazed; he just smiled and said, "Why don't we be friends?" I agreed to this all in what I thought was a chance at rebellion against my parents. At that time it was known that Tucker Mulligan was the resident bad-boy. Befriending him was mistake number two.

After a few months of being friends I noticed something, my grades dropped a bit, I wasn't as stressed, I had taken up drinking and smoking, and now I was about to steal, or 'borrow' my parents car for a joy ride. It was Tucker's 16th birthday and he wanted what he called a 'fun time'. This consisted of smoking, getting drunk and driving around in a fancy car all night long. He also liked to stop at a house every now and then to kick over a mailbox or to destroy a bench, flowers, or in one case a lawn ornament. We had been planning this event for months and acquired all the needed equipment. Beer from Tucker's dad's stash, wine from my parents cabinet, cigarettes from the cashier who doesn't care about age if you slip him a little extra, and my parents car. I remember a couple weeks before the actual day I made plans with my parents to go to a tutoring center three times a week for my falling grades in exchange for using the car three times a month. They quickly agreed to the arrangement, I now wish they had been a little more reluctant and suspicious of what was going on in my life. Then everything changed when my sister Reese found out about our plans. I believe that she found our plans after discovering the stolen wine in my room, god only knows what she was doing in there, or when she hear Tucker and me talking one evening. One memory is still fresh in my mind, the one of my sister pleading for me to not go through with the plans. She told me all about how I could damage myself, ruin my life, and how I could die; she would beg and plead her case over and over again. Then she tried to persuade the mastermind. I remember at one point Reese sauntered past Tucker for she knew there was nothing more anyone could do. I believe this was after many, many pointless attempts to get Tucker to stop with the plans. I now wish I had listened, but I didn't. This was mistake number three.

The moment my sister died will forever be etched in my memory, because it was my fault. Ever since I met Tucker my life had been spiraling downward and it was unbearable for my sister to watch. I remember that on the night of Tucker's party we waited until my parent were out and my sister was asleep. I also remember hiding in the bushes because I was supposed to be at the tutoring center which happened to be an easy walk from my house. After I saw my sister's lights out called Tucker over. Setting a small bon fire in the backyard we began smoking countless cigarettes and drinking strange mixtures of beer and wine. After about an hour of daring each other to do stupid things in our drunken haze we, decided to go for the joy ride. Stumbling over to the car we both got in, I was up first for driving. I started up the car and was driving down the street when I saw my sister standing in the middle of the road. When I went to slow down Tucker stopped me saying that Reese would move before the car hit her. Getting ever so closer to her I began to doubt tucker more and more, I was getting worried. Right before I was about to hit her, I saw Reese squeeze her eyes shut, throw her arms out and mouth goodbye. We felt and heard a thump; I started freaking out, screaming, and crying. Looking over at Tucker I saw him with a weird smile on his face, like when we had first meet. I shook him and asked what his problem was; he just shrugged and got out of the car. I followed his actions only to see him walking away! I was torn between going to my sister and going to Tucker to see why he was leaving. Choosing my sister I saw her lying on the ground eerily still, she had a peaceful smile on her face but her hair was covered in blood. Lifting up her head I saw where she had hit the ground. Crying soft tears I cradled her in my arms, more sober then I ever had been. We could have stayed like this for hours, but my parents eventually found us. My mother gasped and cried in shock while my father bowed his head. Looking at me my mother forced out the question, "How did this happen?" Looking into her eyes I wanted to tell her the truth about everything, just come clean. As I opened my mouth, my chosen words came out," I don't know, when I went in to check in on her she wasn't there. I got really worried and wondered where she had gone, so I grabbed the car and drove around until I found her like this. Someone must have hit her and drove off." When I was finished a wave of guilt hit me, why had I lied? I was about to say the truth when I lied like a coward. I have spent years watching my parents cry over their little girl who never grew up and I have watched them spend a small fortune trying to find the driver. The guilt I live with is unbearable, this is my sentence; all the evil feelings come through this gate that I work so hard to seal. Kneeling down on my sister's grave my flashback ended and I began to weep endlessly. The memories I had dredged up had been too much for me. After a few minutes it began to rain, almost as if my sister was trying to clear away all the wrong in me. I now know that it took not four mistakes to ruin my life, but five. Not telling the truth about my sister and continuing the lie was the fifth mistake.


End file.
